"Hiyah!"
Gim Haesung's voice echoes through the training room as she swiftly kicks the dummy's head off.
The head hits the ground with a thud. At their headquarters, Chae Yuna is sharpening her sword, Woo Taehwa is making herbal tea, and Ki Yeonbom has been staring out the window by the couch.
"You're going to be blind if you keep staring at the window."
Gim Haesung suddenly appears next to him. Ki Yeonbom isn't surprised by her sneakiness; instead, he simply shifts his gaze back to the window, where he can see the city below.
"I'm not going to be blind, Haesung," he mutters, sounding almost like a grumpy old man, and all Gim Haesung can do is raise her arms and slowly walk away, leaving him alone.
"You should really tear your eyes off the window. You're burning way too many holes already," Woo Taehwa chuckles softly, offering him herbal tea before sitting next to Ki Yeonbom.
Ki Yeonbom has always preferred Woo Taehwa's company above everyone else's in the guild — including their guild leader, Seo Hwigeon.
"I've just been busy these days," Ki Yeonbom murmurs, carefully taking the cup of tea from his hand. It's just the one he needs today.
"Yeah, and that worries us! Anyway, aren't you heading to the museum? I went there with my Hyung earlier, and we saw our Guild Leader with the newbie!"
Those words finally make Ki Yeonbom tear his gaze from the window.
"He's at the museum with the new awakener?"
"Mhm! I left early because no one wanted to accompany me, since Hyung went to a guild meeting."
"Why... didn't you tell me? I could've come with you," Ki Yeonbom sighs, facepalming before continuing to sip his tea and lean back against the soft cushions.
Woo Taehwa raises an eyebrow. "You've been raiding a lot of vortexes lately with Noona Gim..."
Ki Yeonbom nods, letting out another long sigh of frustration, then takes something from his pocket.
"The vortexes are gradually spiraling out of control– they've been spawning around the city every day, or even every hour," he says, presenting the dark orb-like stone to Woo Taehwa, who looks at it with curiosity and caution.
"Isn't this..."
"It's a sealed dark matter stone. It holds unstable mana energy — the one that has been emitting negative energy inside vortexes. Most of them are in B-S+ ranked vortexes," Ki Yeonbom explains as he puts the stone back into his inventory system and closes it.
"That's why I think..."
He is interrupted by Chae Yuna's loud, urgent voice — "Everyone! The museum's in danger, and Hwigeon-ssi is asking for backup!"
Ki Yeonbom furrows his brows at her words. "But Hwigeon rarely asks for our help..."
"I'm not kidding! We have to go, and everyone there is in danger! HURRY UP!"
***
The fight is already underway.
The auction hall is in ruins — almost everything inside has been destroyed or turned to ashes.
"Fuck..." Yeon Yujun has no choice but to wield the replica sword from earlier. He holds it as he faces a masked attacker.
"Ready to give up already?!" Eunho, the masked rabbit, yells to be heard over the chaos, while his followers ambush the three from every direction.
Yeon Yujun can take them all out if he activates his <[S] Reoccurrence> skill to end the assassins, but he knows Song Dohyun knows exactly how his abilities work. He can't risk it. He'll just get exposed.
Yeon Yujun shifts his eyes toward Seo Hwigeon's direction, then toward Song Dohyun's, as their weapons clang against the assassins' blades.
"If I don't move here… I'll definitely…"
"Bubu!" The small, fluffy creature on his shoulder, Pouch, opens the system tab on the screen, accessing Yeon Yujun's inventory —
"Pouch! What are you doing!?"
"Pupu!!!"
Pouch taps the item icon on the hologram screen as the stone appears in Yeon Yujun's hand.
'What's this?'
His skill <[SS] The Mind's Eye> passively scans the item in his hand.
[ (SS+) FROZEN STONE: *Obtained from the SS+ Ranked vortex creature. Can stop time for ten minutes, only the user can move. One use only. ]
Those words on his screen made Yeon Yujun feel relieved. He clenches the stone in his hand, not enough to crush.
"Good job, Pouch."
'I guess I can finally put my loot items to good use… I should tell Pouch to do that often.'
Now he plans on making Pouch his emergency plan.
Seo Hwigeon struggles against the pig-masked assassin, blocking his poisoned sword with his shadow dagger.
"Is that all you've got!?" he grins beneath his wolf mask as he manages to strike the pig-masked man across the room, hitting the wall with a powerful thud that echoes through the auction hall.
Three enemies target Song Dohyun while Seo Hwigeon and Yeon Yujun deal with two assassins.
When the pig-masked man isn't responding, a frog-masked woman ambushes Seo Hwigeon from behind, but he immediately senses her presence, making no move to block or dodge.
"You guys really annoy me," Seo Hwigeon scoffs, removing his wolf mask to reveal no face at all underneath.
( "[SSS] The Wolf" skill is now activated! )
A destructive gravitational energy shatters its way across the room, ripping through the atmosphere, nearly sending everyone flying off their feet.
"GAH..!" Yeon Yujun quickly holds onto a nearby armchair, while Pouch grips his clothes.
"PUBU!!!!" Pouch cries, closing its eyes as Yeon Yujun watches Seo Hwigeon's skill transformation.
The skin of Seo Hwigeon starts to ripple and swell, the fur coming out in waves, creating wild strands of hair.
The mask that he holds onto suddenly disappears into nothingness, morphing into a grotesque monster with fangs baring its face, as his bones break and change to take on a terrifying shape – a werewolf-shaped humanoid!
It looks like an extremely brutal and painful process...
Does Seo Hwigeon experience every bit of pain? Yeon Yujun couldn't help but wonder.
'This is… a skill of a shapeshifter looks like?' His eyes widen at the powerful sight before him. It seems he can't use the [Frozen Stone] at all. Seo Hwigeon has swept the show.
Suddenly…
"— AWWWWWOOOOOO!!!"
The loud howl fills the entire auction hall. Song Dohyun turns his head toward Seo Hwigeon's transformation, realizing that he's not someone to be trifled with.
"What the…?"
Eunho laughs, amused by Seo Hwigeon using his full power right away just to fight them off.
"Interesting! Well then, we all might as well go all out in this battle."
Eunho snaps his fingers, and the sound echoes through the auditorium as all the assassins freeze in place.
"What the hell?" Song Dohyun backs away from the standing, still assassin with a bird mask, holding his sword close to his side.
Shadow mist begins to emit from their bodies. They twitch, and their bones crack in unison— a sickening crunch that makes Yeon Yujun feel sick as he watches.
( "[SS] Mist Invasion" is now activated! )
The masked assassins mutate into beast-like creatures resembling their masks. The sounds of their transformation are more disgusting than Seo Hwigeon's.
Seo Hwigeon turns his head toward the two assassins, who are transforming into grotesque, terrifying mist creatures. "Well, that's ugly." he mutters, breathing through the overwhelming scents hitting his heightened senses as a shapeshifter wolf.
Yeon Yujun stares at Seo Hwigeon's wolf form, his expression falling flat. "Seriously…? His skill is still lame…"
'Why did he transform? Now he can't use his shadow daggers, invisibility, or other skills while in wolf form…' Yeon Yujun can't help feeling confused. He looks down at the stone in his hand, still not returning it to his inventory.
'Is it the right time to use this?'
"Those aren't real people or assassins; they're my beautiful clones! Because I am the only true believer of Our Savior, Eight!"
"Pupu..." Pouch grumbles in annoyance, already irritated at Eunho's craziness again.
"Yeah, I agree. He seriously needs help," Yeon Yujun mutters quietly to the fluffy ball creature before one of the assassins, now a mist creature, hisses at him aggressively and jumps at him from behind.
Yeon Yujun quickly turns, his eyes glowing purple as he uses his skill —
( "[B+] Sprint" is now activated! )
He escapes his spot; the mist creature hits the ground, cracking and breaking. Its head turns toward Yeon Yujun as if locking him as a target.
"Seriously?!" Yeon Yujun quickly runs around the auction hall as the monster chases him. The last thing he wanted in this fight was to be chased.
Song Dohyun watches everything unfold, his deep brown eyes flickering between Yeon Yujun and Seo Hwigeon, who is now fighting the mist monsters.
Song Dohyun prepares his sword, ready to attack the masked rabbit man, Eunho, on stage at the auction hall... And just as he's about to strike—
"RAAAAAAHHHH!" One of the mist creatures targeting Song Dohyun charges at him. He dodges quickly but fails to reach Eunho.
The mist creature drools at Song Dohyun, seemingly wanting to devour him.
"I rarely encounter clones like this..." Song Dohyun mutters, activating his skill to take down the monster in one attack.
( "[S+] Severance" is now in effect! )
SWOOOOSH!!
His sword slices through the mist creature as it screams and turns to dust. Song Dohyun immediately turns to Eunho, but the same mist monster he just killed blocks him from approaching their "master."
It seems they won't disappear with a single slice.
Seo Hwigeon attacks the mist creatures with his claws, but it's futile as they keep reviving and reforming.
"It's not working!" he snarls in frustration, attacking the mist creature repeatedly.
Meanwhile, Yeon Yujun is still being chased by the mist creature, like a cat and dog chasing each other.
"Dang it... I have no choice, Pouch..." he mutters, gripping the stone even tighter as he slows and finally stops running.
"Pubu!!! PUPU!!!" Pouch frantically jumps onto his shoulder, urging him to move as the mist creature approaches from behind.
Yeon Yujun takes a deep breath, calming himself amid the chaos, before crushing the [Frozen Stone].
—SHAAAATTER!
The stone breaks like glass in his grip, its shards fall to the floor.
"We're here!—" Woo Taehwa's panicked voice cuts through until time itself stops.
Everything freezes before Yeon Yujun realizes it.
"The…
[ THE TIME IS NOW FROZEN, YOU CAN MOVE FREELY FOR TEN MINUTES OR LESS. ]